Railway, tramway, or the like.



No. 694 l29. Patented Feb. 25, I902.

Y J. BROWN.

RAILWAY, TRAMWAY, OR THE LIKE.

(Application flle d May 29, 190;.

(No Model.)

UNITED STAT S ATENT FFlCE.

JOHN BROWN, or BELFAST, IRELAND.

RAILWAY, TRAMWAY, OR THE LIKE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 694,129, dated February 25, 1902.

Application filed May 28, 1901. Serial No. 62,226. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN BROWN, a subject of the King of England,residing at D unmurry, Belfast, Ireland, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in or Relating to Railways, Tramways, or the Like, (for which I have made application for Letters Patent in Great Britain, No. 20,887, dated November 19, 1900,) of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in the working of railways, tramways, and the like, and has for its chief object to obviate the necessity of stopping in order to take up or drop passengers or goods at various points on the route.

According to this invention as applied for passenger traffic a suitable number of coaches or cars are provided of any convenient type allowing free passage from one car to the other. The cars are arranged so that they can be readily coupled or uncoupled, and each car is provided with some source of motive power rendering it capable of moving independent of the others. The cars are disposed along the route, one or more being disposed at each station or depot where it is desired to take up or deposit passengers. For the sake of simplicity in description it will be assumed that a car for each station is sufficient. The track may be arranged to pursue a more or less direct course from one terminus to another or maybe arranged so as to form a circular route, around which the trains may run.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a diagrammatic plan of a circular railway route on which the cars or trains are operated in accordance with my invention, and Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic plan of part of the route, showing the position of the cars after they have left the station.

The main portion of the train may consist of a suitable number of cars or coaches coupled together and each provided with a separate motor, which may conveniently be electric. The cars are supposed to start from station a with their complement of passengers, who distribute themselves throughout the cars according to their various destinations, those who desire to alight at station 6 taking their seats in the car B, which is at the rear end of the train, those who wish to be carried to the station a seating themselves in the car 0, second from the rear, and those whose destination is the station (1 assembling themselves in the car D, third from the end of the train, and so on, according tot-he number or stations or depots along the route. As the train approaches the station I) the last car is detached or slipped by means of any suitable coupling arrangement permitting this action, and a driver or attendant controlling this car brings it to a standstill at the station. The main portion of the train continues on its way after slipping the car B without stopping. Meanwhile on the approach of the main portion of the train to the station I) the attendant of the car A, which was previously waiting at this station, has been informed of the approach of the main portion of the train by any suitable signaling device and starts his car, in which the passengers who desire to be carried to the various points along the route are seated. The train as it comes along catches up this car A, which is then automatically or otherwise coupled to the front of the train and thereafter forms the first car of the train until the next station has been reached. The motor of the car E, which may previously have acted as the motor for the train, may now be thrown out of action and the motor of the car A used for propelling the train toward the next station, or all the motors on the train may be coupled to controllingswitches in car A, so that the attendant or driver in car A may use and control all the motors simultaneously.

As the train approaches the station 0 the car 0 is slipped or uncoupled and the car previously standing at this station is started and finally caught up by the main portion of the train in a similar manner to that already described. Thisprocess of slipping a car and taking up another is continued at each station or depot along the route until the train reaches the station from which it originally started, when it is ready to commence another complete course ofoperations.

The cars are preferably of the corridor or vestibule type and the passengers from any one station or depot along the route as soon as the car in which they are seated has been caught up and coupled to the main portion of the train pass into the train and take their seats in the car corresponding to the station at which they wish to alight.

According to one arrangement the vehicles are adapted to run on a track F, the rail F of which may serve as the negative or return main for the current supplied to the motors, and sliding contact devices are provided on each car connecting the motor with this rail and with the positive conductor F The cars, as previously mentioned, instead of being propelled independently of each other may be made up in groups of two or more to be slipped or taken up at each station, in which case a single motor would be sufficient for each group of cars.

The whole arrangement may be made antomatic, or the coupling, uncoupling, starting, or stopping of the cars maybe controlled from a single station or stations along the route, or each car may be under the care of one or more attendants.

If desired, the train may be provided with a driver or attendant, who may control the whole train from the front, the drivingmechanism being suitably arranged with this object. This driver or attendant may move into each car as it is taken up, so as always to be at the head of the train. If preferred, the person who has control of each car may control the whole train when his caris picked up and until the next car is overtaken and coupled in front of the train, when the driver of this latter car would take charge. One or more attendants may attend to the taking up and slipping of the Various cars, which may be started and stopped automatically.

Byemploying electricity all the cars may.

be arranged to work automatically or may be controlled from a central or distributing stal r m 4 tion, or the system may be so arranged that various sections of the route can be controlled by stations placed at suitable intervals along its course.

It will be appreciated that according to this arrangement a through express is provided from any one station to any other station along the route, the main portion of the train traveling continuously at a uniform rate and taking up and slipping the cars without slackening speed.

I have described my invention as applied to a single-track circular railway; but I do not intend to confine myself to such, as it will be obvious that the invention is applicable to a double-track railway and to routes running between two termini, in which case the main portion of the train runs straight through from one terminus to the other, taking up and slipping cars at each station on the route.

Although I have described my invention as applied to passenger traffic, it will be obvious that it may be employed for the transport of certain kinds of goods, such as parcels or similar articles, which could readilybe transferred from one vehicle to another, while the train is traveling from one station to an other, or the vehicles may carry passengers as well as goods of the kind'stated.

In some cases a single motor-car or locomotive may supply the necessary motive power for the main train, each car being started from its station by means of an inclined plane or some auxiliary mechanism.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The system or method of railway-working which consists in adding at successive stations to the leading end of a moving train one or more coaches previously started and now moving at a slower speed than that of the train and consequently overtaken by it and thereafter forming part of the train.

2. The system or method of railway-working which consists in adding at successive stations to the leading end of a train in motion one or more coaches which thereafter form part of the train.

3. The system or method of railway-working which consists in detaching at successive stations from the back end of the continuously-moving train one or more coaches appropriated to that station and taking on in front also without stopping another coach or coaches substantially as described.

4. The system or method of railway-working with a continuously-moving train which consists in: (a) starting from the successive stations coaches laden with passengers in advance of the approaching train which successively overtakes and absorbs them as part of itself at its leading end; (17) transferring from the coaches so absorbed to the other coaches the passengers to he landed at the respective destinations of those coaches; (c) successively detaching from the back end of the moving train the coaches appropriated to the respective stations and containing their respective passengers.

5. The system or method of railway-working with a continuously-running train which consist in: (a) loading with passengers coaches in advance of the approaching train which absorbs the coaches at its leading end as part of itself; (5) transferring from the coaches so absorbed to the other coaches the passengers to be landed at the respective destinations of those coaches; (c) successively detaching/from the back end of the moving train the coaches appropriated to the respective stations and containing their respective passengers.

6. The system or method of railway-working which consists in: (a) maintaining a train constantly moving throughout the system to which it appertains; (b) maintaining at each station one or more coaches to be successively started in advance of the approaching train; (0) dropping at successive stations from the back end of the train one or more coaches containing the passengers or goods for that staname to this specification in the presence of tion whereby a constantly-moving train is two subscribing witnesses. maintained but constantly changing in its T elements and their contents can be picked up JOHN BROWN 5 at any station and depositedat any other sta- Witnesses tion without the need for stopping the train. EDWARD HARVEY, In testimony whereof ,I have signed my MALOOM T. BRIOE. 

